The present invention relates to an antibacterial ceramic and an antibacterial ceramic filter. More particularly, the present invention relates to a lightweight antibacterial ceramic, a method for producing the lightweight antibacterial ceramic, and an antibacterial ceramic filter which can remove and extirpate various bacteria.
There has conventionally been known antibacterial ceramics having an antibacterial metal such as silver, copper, and zinc loaded on a ceramic. Such antibacterial ceramics are used as soil conditioners and water conditioners because of their antibacterial property, anti-mildew property, and water-holding property. An antibacterial ceramic having the shape of a ball has been used for cultivation of chicks, prawns, or the like. An antibacterial ceramic having the shape of a pellet with enlarged specific surface area or the shape of a Rasching ring has been used for treating water to improve its quality.
Incidentally, the aforementioned antibacterial ceramic is formed to be relatively porous so as to enhance its antibacterial property. However, many of such conventional antibacterial ceramics have been dense and heavy. There has also been known antibacterial materials made by adding an antibacterial metal to a plastic or a glass. However, such antibacterial materials have a low antibacterial property because of low porosity.
There also has been known a ceramic filter used as a precise filtering film. This filter can remove mildew and various bacteria in a liquid.
In the construction of a garden, either in or on the roof of a building, both the soil and the soil conditioners used in the garden must be lightweight to avoid exceeding the structural strength of the building. However, there has been a problem that the aforementioned antibacterial ceramics are not suitable for a roof garden or the like since they are relatively heavy. On the other hand, there has been another problem that roots of plants in roof gardens are liable to rot because roof gardens suffer from poor drainage, and as a result, such plants have short lives.
There has been still another problem that conventional ceramic filters are not always effective to completely remove various bacteria from a liquid because of the diameters of the pores in such filters.